2 ZAKELIJKE ARTIKELEN Small firms show optimism Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises are the fourth most optimistic in the region that the Asia-Pacific economy will continue to grow, according to an annual report conducted by the market research firm TNS. The sixth Asia Business Monitor done by US logistics firm UPS, which surveys SME decision makers across the region on the business sentiments and factors that drive success, said 59 percent in Vietnam expected growth, while another 32 percent expected the economy to remain the same. The survey, which polled 1,350 SME decision makers in 13 key markets in March-April, included Vietnam for the first time. Besides Vietnam, Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand also took part. Vietnam is the second most optimistic market in the region about business success in 2010, with 72 percent of the respondents believing their companies will perform better this year. Though nine out of 10 Vietnamese SMEs are focused on conducting business within Asia and the Pacific, they expect trade with other regions to increase.global trading has helped Vietnam become a rapidly emerging market and this was confirmed by 58 percent of SMEs who said it had a more positive impact on their business growth and had opened up business opportunities for them. Despite the prevailing positive growth sentiment, Vietnam was the least optimistic in the region when it came to the workforce: an overwhelming 61 percent intend to pare their workforce, while none plans to increase it. As Vietnam's economic growth accelerates and it continues to invest in infrastructure, the building and construction industry is expected to boom. More than half of Vietnamese SMEs (53 percent) believe this sector will continue to be the country's key growth industry this year. It is followed by IT (36 percent) and leisure and tourism (28 percent). When asked which industries will be the key economic pillars over the next three to five years, building and construction remained the top choice among Vietnamese SMEs with 53 percent, followed by agriculture, forestry and fishing (29 percent), leisure and tourism (29 percent), and IT (26 percent). Though the Vietnamese economy is expected to grow this year, local entrepreneurs continue to face challenges and seven out of 10 SMEs said their top business concern was costs. The second biggest concern is interest rate hikes (46 percent) while competition (40 percent) is the third biggest concern. Vietnamese SMEs want the government to continue its low-interest lending programmes since many banks still charge them above 14 percent. Around 23 percent said they needed support funds to upgrade their technologies and equipment and 19 percent wanted the government to promote Vietnamese brands. Of those who encountered problems in financing their business, 45 percent blamed this on bureaucracy and red tape in processing applications and 25 percent on the lack of institutions willing to lend to small businesses. Some 30 percent said they had no difficulties in finding funds. To sustain their competitiveness, they said more needed to be done in terms of government support, transport infrastructure, and legal framework.asked about their perception of their own competitiveness, 31 percent said better service or quality was the key competitive advantage they had when competing with big corporations, followed by forming partnerships/associations (29 percent) and offering better prices (17 percent). "[The survey] has clearly revealed that Vietnam SME leaders needed government support for them to grow and develop, and truly put Vietnamese brands on the regional as well as global map for years to come," Jeff Mclean, general manager of UPS Vietnam, said. An important fact the survey uncovered is the importance of supply-chain management for SMEs. Cost savings is the number one reason for Vietnamese SMEs to pursue a supply-chain management strategy (31 percent). In addition to cost savings, 28 percent view it as a method for quality assurance. When asked what changes were needed in supply chain practices to support future growth, 31 percent said they would focus simply on reducing transport and distribution costs while 21 percent said they would shift their supply-chain operations closer to their final destination.sgtd Source: 2

3 Firms still lack basic knowledge of WTO HA NOI Up to 66 per cent of Vietnamese export businesses admitted that they failed to understand the basic content of WTO rules, in a recent survey by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, while 50 per cent of businesses were unaware of the WTO commitments related to their sectors or business areas. Since 1994, Viet Nam has been involved in 42 trade disputes, 35 of which were anti-dumping actions. In order to avoid the imposition of measures by other trading partners on domestic exporters, Nguyen Thi Thu Trang from the chamber's Trade Remedies Council urged domestic firms to sharpen their competitiveness by increasing the quality of their products rather than by reducing prices, as well as to perfect their accounting and financial systems in accordance with international standards. She emphasised the importance of closer cooperation between businesses, particularly within the same sector. Trade defence lawsuits could affect the entire sector, so the effort of only a small number of businesses was insufficient. Exporters also needed to retain professional legal services to advise them on complex WTO-related legal issues, Trang said. Viet Nam Textile and Garment Association vice chairman Le Van Dao said that, despite facing no anti-dumping suits to date, the garment sector lacked the necessary knowledge to deal with trade disputes. Viet Nam had also failed to used trade defence measures for its own benefit, to protect its domestic industries in the way other countries had done, said the deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Competition Administration Department, Vu Ba Phu. However, Trang said, while trade defence measures could be used to cope with abnormal import cases, they could not be used in every instance importers had problems. The measures could only be applied under specific conditions and circumstances set forth under WTO rules, so businesses needed to make a greater effort to understand those regulations. Vietnamese firms were also entitled to ask State administrative agencies to investigate and apply measures against imported goods that present an instance of unhealthy competition, said head of the chamber's legal department, Tran Huu Huynh. But many businesses have yet to pay due attention to this option due to their inadequate understanding of the measures and the lack of information or sufficient co-operation needed to lodge a complaint. "This can cause losses for Vietnamese businesses on their home market," Huynh said. He suggested businesses and associations be more proactive in applying legal measures under WTO regulations to raise their competitive capacity in the domestic market. Source: www. vietnamnews.vnanet.vn New programme promises export credit guarantees HA NOI Twenty-three commodities will receive export credit guarantees under a national trial programme, starting from the beginning of next year, in an attempt to ensure a maximum of 3 per cent of the total export revenues will be insured by the end of Under decision 2011/QD-TTg issued by the Government last Friday, the pilot programme, which will be implemented during , would prevent and minimise risks for exporters while ensuring financial security and enhancing exports. Subject to the programme are enterprises exporting commodities including seafood, rice, coffee, fruit and vegetable, textile and garment, and footwear. Those export commodities will be guaranteed regarding commercial and political risks. Premiums will be computed based on the risk level, damages, management fees and other fees concerning the risks which are guaranteed. According to the Department of Insurance Management and Supervision under the Ministry of Finance (MoF), Viet Nam now has 28 non-life insurance companies with the total charter capital of VND trillion (US$596.8 million). Of this, only three insurance companies Petro Viet Nam Insurance (PVI), Bao Minh Joint Stock Corporation and QBE limited Company were running credit guarantees for exports. Meanwhile, a recent survey conducted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) on over 200 companies out of 35,000 exporting businesses showed that only a few enterprises were involved in applying debt and risk payment management. Around 68 per cent of risk that export companies confront was commercial risk, 17 per cent was political risk while the remaining concerned banks. However, there were no enterprises involved in export credit guarantees. The MIT's survey also found that 95 per cent of exporters wanted to be involved in export credit guarantees. Of them, 78 per cent wanted to be guaranteed regarding the commercial field, 12 per cent wanted to be insured regarding forex rate 3

4 fluctuations or prices while 10 per cent wanted insurance against politics. Businesses and banks Foreseeing the lucrative market, several non-life insurance companies were preparing to run export credit guarantees programmes, including BIC and Bao Viet. Deputy director of BIC Tran Trung Tinh said that this year his company would be running the export credit guarantees programme as the market had potential and the export demand for products was increasing. "So far, the Letter of Credit (L/C) method has accounted for 90 per cent of the global export and import revenues, but now exporters, including Vietnamese enterprises, tend to buy insurance services for the risks incurred when they export," he said. Not only insurance companies, banks have also started exploiting this type of insurance product. Under the factoring method, the bank will buy an export business's accounts receivable instead of lending against them, providing the exporter uses a L/C. Source: www. vietnamnews.vnanet.vn Vietnam moves up in businessfriendly rankings: WB report with emerging-market economies such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam taking the lead. Vietnam eased company start-up by creating a onestop shop and made dealing with construction permits easier, it said. Vietnam is among the 10 most-improved economies in the ease of doing business, the World Bank said Vietnam has earned a spot among the 10 mostimproved economies in the ease of doing business, moving up 10 places in the latest World Bank survey. Improvements in easing business start-ups, granting construction permits and sharing credit information have helped Vietnam rise to number 78 in global rankings, according to Doing Business 2011, an annual survey published by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank. The Vietnamese government s efforts on regulatory and public administrative reforms are reflected in Doing Business 2011 and in the improvement of Vietnam s overall ranking, Simon Andrews, IFC Regional Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, Lao PDR and Thailand, said in a statement on Thursday. Looking forward, it will be important to continue the focus on implementation of reform and maintaining the momentum of reform. The survey found that the economies of East Asia and the Pacific were among the most active reformers for the first time in eight years, Nguyen Dinh Cung, head of Central Institute for Economic Management, said Vietnam has in fact made a lot of effort to improve its business environment. However, as the Doing Business survey only measures nine of so many aspects of the business environment, it would not be accurate to say the country has made significant progress based on the survey alone, he said. Victoria Kwakwa, country director of the World Bank in Vietnam, said there are still many aspects that the country has to improve. Vietnam needs to see the importance of the private sector, and improvements in the business environment need to benefit more small- and medium-sized companies, she said. Globally, governments worldwide have been consistently taking steps to empower local entrepreneurs, said Neil Gregory, director of global indicators and analysis at the World Bank. The economies most affected by the financial crisis especially in Eastern Europe have been targeting regulatory reforms over the past year to make it easier for small and medium-size enterprises to recover and to create jobs," he said in a statement. Singapore has topped the list of 183 economies for five years running, followed by Hong Kong, New Zealand, the UK and the US. 4

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